Black Soul: the Black Fire, the Eclipse, the Sin
by Kalameet the Black Dragon
Summary: Past, something that no one can run away from, nor ignore forever and that is a fundamental part of who people are. Still, there is a guild in Fiore that has plenty of people that had troubled past and some still has to face it. But amongst them, a certain fire slayer never forgot his and now will have to face it to end what started long ago.RatedM beacuse I'm paranoid discontinued
1. Chapter 1: Thinking about the Past

**Ok sooo…sorry for the wait, but it wasn't easy to write this story for the third time. Still, I'm pretty sure this time my work will be good enough to satisfy both me and you. However, I advise you: this first chapter won't be neither long, nor exciting, that's because I decided to use this first chapter to introduce two of the characters and to give you an idea of what kind of characters are, this to make easier to handle the entire story.**

 **-Thinking about the past-**

 **Magnolia-12** **th** **-december-X784**

Another day was coming to its end, the sun slowly setting, its light turning from its almost glassy light colour typical of the winter season, to a warmer and darker red. And where the light wasn't anymore, there was the darkness of the night, the stars and the moon still not coming out to light the small city that was the residence of a certain mage's guild known for its destructive tendencies and its members couldn't be happier that another day had passed. Why? Because soon there would have taken place a certain event that was one of the most awaited one from all the members of said guild, especially the from the young one. This event was the S-class trial, an event that normally took place once every year and that was the occasion for many mages to show their true strength and be recognized as S-class mage, this allowing them to have access to new quest and being for some other the proof that they had finally been able to show their strength. However, while people like Gray Fullbuster, Elfman Strauss, Cana Alberona and many other mages were impatient to participate to this event, the last one begin in truth nervous for reasons concerning her and her father, who was a certain S-class mage that didn't really know well how to control his crash magic. There was also one person that wasn't as enthusiastic as them about the trial, not that he had any reason to be, he had participated to this event only one or two other times, he didn't really remember well, but to him they were useless, he already knew his own strength and considering the events that occurred during the past few months, he didn't have any reason to be happy, instead it would more correct to say the opposite, because such events suggested that things were changing and that soon he probably would have had to face his past. This someone was none other than a certain carefree, reckless and lover of fight dragon slayer known as Natsu Dragneel.

Currently he was near his house, observing the sunset from the ridge near his home that made him have a good view of the city in which his actual guild resided. He was wearing his usual attire, consisting of a sleeveless, gold trimmed, black waistcoat, left open and untucked, exposing his bare chest, gold trimmed, black cloth around his waist that reaches his knees and a leather brown belt with an oval-shaped silver buckle around his waist, he also wore white knee-length trousers with black ribbon ties, a thick black wristband on his left wrist and black open-toed sandals. His face fixed on the setting star with blank expression, not letting anyone or anything understand his emotional state, his mind recalling the events of the past six month, begging from his meeting with Lucy Heartfilia, which he now recalled with displeasure, continuing with his misadventure with duke Everlue, which he didn't like and caused him to mutter something about a certain someone that decided to have its fun with his body. Then it was the fight with Lullaby, which was the first signal of what he thought would soon escalate in something worse; then he had to deal with Gray and his past with both that other ice-make mage named Lyon Vastia and Deliora. This bringing the counter of important events to two, but it did end there, no, because shortly after that, the former guild of Phantom Lord decided to attack them and when they kidnapped Lucy, it left him indifferent, but when he heard that she had been rescued by him, he remained surprised, because he never did it. Still, this didn't really interest him then and it doesn't now, his mind focusing on other things. Then after that even the matter of the guild's war was dealt with, he had to deal with the matter of the Tower of Heaven and of Erza's past, both not really interesting him, but the fact that a creation of a certain black mage had been active wasn't to be ignored. However, by remembering this he chuckled lightly.

'If they would have known the true purpose of that tower…who knows how they would have reacted.' He thought with a small grin. However, it soon disappeared once he recalled what happened next: first was the matter regarding Laxus Dreyar and his family's problems and second the alliance of guilds to defeat the dark guild known as Oracion Seis. However, both these facts weren't so important to him, but it was what happened next, when the entire city of Magnolia was sucked into another world name Edolas and he had to go there to avoid more complications for his plan, his only regret was that he didn't have the chance to get rid of a pair of person that he was sure would have caused him problems in the future. Still, that trip wasn't for nothing considering who he had meet and to him the fact of having her back was more than he could have asked.

"Seems every piece is finding its collocation." He muttered after letting out a sigh. His mind still wandering in the sea of his memories and bringing back some that describing as unpleasant would be an understatement, because they were amongst the worst he ever had. Still, he put them aside, now he had to focus on other matters that were more urgent and important.

"Thoughtful today aren't we?" A new voice spoke from near him, the tone playful and relaxed and didn't hid any malice of sort. Slowly, the pink haired slayer turned his head to see who was the owner of the voice, but he already imaged who it was and was surprised when he saw a certain short white haired take-over mage that was also known as the third and younger of the Strauss siblings.

"Just thinking about some matters." He replied blankly while turning his gaze to look again at the setting sun and analysing every detail of the landscape in front of him, this helping him to think and relax. However, he didn't dislike the new presence that had just arrived and that walked to his side to look at what he was looking at.

"It's a beautiful sunset, don't you think?" She asked, this time her voice more relaxed and somehow warmer, but still, he didn't lose his composure and kept a stern expression. This making her sigh, she had come there already expecting him to be in this kind of mood and she could understand why, probably if she would be in the same situation as his, she would have acted in similar manner.

"Worried about them?" She asked concerned, her voice now deprived of the playfulness of before and now matched perfectly with the heavy mood that was in that place. Her eyes then looked at first at the ground, then toward the sun and then she sat down on dirt beneath her feet, not really caring about the fact that it felt cold, she had endured worse conditions and she felt her legs aching a bit.

"Shouldn't I…" He replied, dropping himself next to her and letting her lean on his shoulder. His face changing from the cold one of before to one that showed clear concern, guilt and a lot of regret.

"I'm in no position to blame you for this. Still, you have to react, they did what they did so that you could help them when the right time would have come…" She replied with serious voice, each of her words hitting the right spot in his mind, not that he was surprised by this, she had always been good in doing this kind of things, especially with those she knew well.

"…each of us was prepared for this kind of situation, we always are and if you will continue to just remain here sulking on the past, then, everything they had done will be for nothing." This time her voice was different, having got rid of the kindness that normally was one of her most noticeable trait and having replaced with complete seriousness. This caused him to smile at her before releasing a heavy breath, it almost seemed like he hadn't breathed up till now, which from his point of view wouldn't be a surprising thing.

"I know, I know…but there are too much things out of place and I fear that soon we will have a true conflict here and it won't be easy to win." He stated, looking at her. It was clear that he was worried for her and for what he thought could happen to her.

"Don't worry, everything will be fine." She reassured looking at him with the same care and concern as he did, then she gave him a smile, making him smile in return, thought his was smaller and somehow a bit forced and it was clear that he was sad. Silence fell between the two, Liassana had her gaze directed to the setting star that now wasn't almost visible anymore, its rays slowly leaving place to the darkness of the night. As for Natsu, his eyes were now shadowed by his hair, his fingers playing with some grass's blades, making them slip between his finger and folding them. Then he stopped and looked at them, they were three and all of them were of an emerald green, but in each of them were little white sign caused by his playing with them. He continued to stare at them a little more, making the white haired girl to look at him, imaging what he was going to do but preferred to see. The pink haired slayer then closed his eyes and let out a sigh and then threw the three grass's blades in the air, the wind taking them away from him, but shortly after he let them go, small flames appeared on each of their tips and in less than an instant reduced them to nothing.

"'sigh'…What are you planning to do now?" She asked, after the initial sigh, her face turning into one that could only be described as cold serious, even her eyes seemed void of emotion and were focused on him. She clearly wanted an answer, but it was up to him to decide to give her or not.

"I think I will participate to the S-class trial; I want to check Tenrou Island and if I don't find anything, I will leave to continue my search on my own." He replied bluntly, throwing himself back and letting his back land on the ground behind him with both his hands behind his head, his eyes closed and his face relaxed.

"And what if you find them?" She asked in response, knowing more or less how this conversation would end. Upon hearing her question, he opened his eyes and let out a sigh.

"Same. My role here is finished and I'm impatient to have some true relax." He answered while looking at the sky, the atmosphere around them now calm like a sea after a storm, but that still had the same danger as before.

"fufufu…your concept of relax is sleeping somewhere alone and in the most isolated place that you can find or either let out some stress in a fight." She giggled, knowing very well what kind of person he was and what he liked most. However, the fact that he liked simple things, didn't mean that he himself was a simple person and if someone knew him well enough then the word 'simple' would be one of the most inappropriate to describe him; he may not be someone that could destroy a country by spreading rumors and by manipulating people. But he still was intelligent enough not to let himself be manipulated or to know how things really worked and of how horrible is the reality.

"I simple appreciate simple things over having to deal with someone who's name is in complete contrast with the way she acts." He answered back with a slight grin on his face. This making Lisanna smile, she hoped of begin able to light the mood, this, by distracting him by his negative thought, which, she noticed had was already always present when she had returned, but, knowing him, he had been in this condition even before her return.

"It's not my fault, I wasn't the one to choose. And at least my name has a meaning, not like yours that is simply is based on its sound. Isn't it so, Kalameet?" The last word, made his sense of danger to active. It's been a long time since someone had called him with his true name and he now was so accustomed to being called Natsu that the fact that someone used his true name, caused him to go in alert. Because of someone knew that name, it meant that said person also knew who he really is or was and just knowing one of the two was already too much. Still, his mind was able to recognise why the white haired girl knew his name and this preventing him from engaging her in a fight.

"It would be wiser not to say our name like that, after all, you can never be sure if someone is hiding around. Right 'Lisanna'?" His wasn't exactly a question, but more of an affirmation, though it wasn't even entirely true, since all of them were able to sense the presence of everyone and everything around them by using a method that it was impossible to hide from. This unless you were one of them and even if it was this the case, it wasn't easy to mask your own presence from your similar, let alone to hide what they used to feel what was around them.

"Touche!" She answered blinking with one eye and sticking out her tongue while making a silly smile, this causing him to let out a light chuckle at her antics. She really was acting like a child. Still, he couldn't help but smile at this, she really knew him well. Still, he wasn't surprised by it, after all what they went thorough it would be strange the opposite.

However, after this last statement, they both fell silent and Kalameet, again looked at the sun, now almost completely gone over the horizon. Beside him, Lisanna also stared at it, a mix of different emotions coming through her head: sadness, because she knew that soon the teen near her would have to leave and then they wouldn't be able to be together like this for a long time; nostalgia, memories of her past slowly flowing in her mind, and even happiness deciding to enjoy the moment to its fullest, after all its so long since the last time they had the chance to have a moment like this. Unconsciously, she moved closer to him, resting her head on his shoulder and letting herself enjoy the moment and the silence that were there. On the other hand, Kalameet didn't push her aside and instead enjoyed her company and let her position herself, not minding to it and instead answered by moving closer to her and putting his head over hers, taking advantage of both her position and of the fact that she was shorter than him.

They remained in this position, not wanting to let each other go, both knowing that this would have been the last time they would met for a long time and both of them didn't want it, but they knew it was something necessary. However, everything has an end and their special moment wasn't different, they waited until the sun completely disappeared and then the few remaining rays were reduced to nothing more and finally the stars and the moon were free to appear in the night's sky. Then, it was the moment for them to put an end to their moment. Slowly and reluctantly, they both rose up from the ground and shot one last glance at the horizon.

"Seems like the time has arrived." Kalameet stated while looking at her and giving her a small smile. Then he took one deep sigh and closed his eyes, then suddenly the air around him changed filling itself with a strange kind of energy before being absorbed into his body and then something more happened: his hair changed, turning from the usual salmon pink to a deep pitch black that seemed to neglect every kind of light, still this wasn't the only change he undergo, once he opened his eyes, they weren't of the same onyx black that showed the kindness and cheerfulness that all in Fary Tail had come to know and love. No they were now of a dark yellow, almost red and they didn't show anything except for a deep hatred and coldness. Still, if someone was able to read enough well other's eyes, they would have also been able to see something more akin to regret, sorrow that almost turned into despair.

"I see…so someone is eager to fly." Lisanna replied with a playful smile while looking at him. She knew what he was planning to do and she would have been lying if she would have said she did want to follow him, not only because she wanted to stay with him a bit longer, but also because she really wanted to do what he had in mind, but she also knew she couldn't. After all her 'brother' and 'sister' were waiting for her and despite the fact that it would have been so strange that she would come late, preferring to stay with the one they knew as Natsu, it would be the fact that, despite her talent in hiding and similar, her colour and the fact that she would have had to spend too much energy to hide herself, make impossible to do what she wanted and then continue to conduct her life without alerting someone. So with frustration, she had to decline the opportunity to relax as she wished.

"Yes and I already took the right precautions to make sure that no one could notice me so don't worry." He answered, stretching his neck and massaging it, it's been years since the last time he had felt like that and it was really a pain in the ass. Although, he knew that he wasn't the only one to want to have a quick fly to stretch his muscles, still, he wasn't as oblivious as everyone thought and he knew the problems that would imply the fact that she flies and he knew they weren't allowed to risk so much.

"Ok, just don't go around with other girls while I'm not with you." She answered back with the same playful tone of before, only, this time there also was something more in it and he was able to understand what it was, this making him understand what she meant and causing him to let out a sigh in exasperation, already knowing what she meant, since this wasn't the first time they did this kind of discussion.

"For the last time Lisanna, I didn't go out with other girls and you know that very well." He stated with a hint of exasperation, it's been so since they had met again and she used this excuse to either tease him or to express herself. In fact, despite the mask she usually wore of being an innocent and almost oblivious girl, she was very different from it and she was kind of jealous of her boyfriend. Lucky him, and her, considering what would have happened her if she was, she wasn't a yandere, only she deeply cared for Kalameet and loved him.

"Really, then what about that blonde you brought here months ago?" She questioned, playfulness and jealousy mixed together again, only this time she also added a childishly pouting which caused him to laugh internally, but if he let himself laugh openly, then, their discussion wouldn't have had an end.

"I already told you that I brought her here because she will almost certainly become a threat in the future and I prefer to have someone keeping an I on her and before you say anything I was originally planning on remaining here to watch her. But considering the recent events…well…you know, no?" He was feeling a bit embarrassed with himself for asking her to do a job that he originally had planned to do himself. Still, he hadn't even predicted that the situation would resolve in such manner and this leading to his decision of leaving.

"Uff…I hope that it is so and that you're not lying." She huffed, deciding to trust him for now, but she would still keep an eye on said blonde, knowing herself that she wasn't someone that could cause them problems in the future. However, she wasn't the only one to keep an eye on, in that guild there were many other powerful mages that weren't to be underestimated considering their power or even the potential they had. In other words, she was right in the wolf's den and could end up to be bitten if she didn't play her cards in the right way. This, was something that even Kalameet knew and for how much he hated to make her risk so much, but he also knew that she was accustomed to do this and was more capable of him in handling this situation.

Thinking this made him feel relieved, knowing that she wouldn't have many problems in doing what he asked her to do and also…because in this manner she wouldn't have to deal with what he knew he was about to face. It was kind of paradoxical that for someone like him to have to face his past and fear the outcome of this fight. Because, from it, it didn't involve only him, but also other people and some of them were extremely precious to him and he couldn't afford to fail to them. He knew what path he had chosen and nothing would make him stop from pursing it and then finally accomplishing it, still, this wasn't a certainty, but he would make it become or would fail and pay the price for his failure.

However, remembering the facts that occurred in the past, caused an inner fire to start to burn, up to the point that it would be able to burn his own body until nothing was left and somehow, he wouldn't dislike it, in this manner all the responsibility that he had wouldn't be his problem anymore. But he knew that doing something like this was both impossible for him and that in this manner he would insult those that were linked to him. Soon, the anger that was burning him from inside, turned into sorrow, fear and regret. His memories making him remember what he considered as the greatest of his failure during his life, nothing was forget of it, the causes that lead to that event, the people that were involved and even why it occurred. Still, he knew that his part of guilt in that past event and its outcome wasn't big and instead someone would even be able to say that he was only a victim of the case.

"You shouldn't worry so much about the past." Lisanna spoke while giving him a hug and then turning to return to the house in which she was currently staying with Elfman and Mirajane, now it was almost time that they eat and she was kind of hungry. Soon, she was gone and he was left alone on the ridge near his house, with the only company of his thoughts and the wind that was also starting to weaken, reducing itself to nothing more almost a whisper.

"I know…but I can't help it…" He said aloud, probably referring to what the white haired girl had told him before. But now it was late and she wouldn't be able to hear him, or maybe not. Either way, he let a sad smile surface on his face and then a small laugh echoed in his throat and then it died there, leaving him in the silence that now filled the air there. Then, he closed his eyes and faced the night sky, the same energy of before coming out from his body, filling the air around him and slowly forming a something around his body that slowly grew, increasing its size and turning the air black.

"Well, time to do some exercise." He called out while the air around him became denser, almost solid before it suddenly covered his body, making him disappear and then shooting in night's sky, disappearing from anyone's sight. The wind now completely gone, but still, the air of that place was still moving, as if animated by some strange kind of energy Black particles dancing over the ground, however, slowly they disappeared, until there were nothing left and finally, everything settled and stopped.

 **As I said this chapter isn't that great and it isn't supposed to be, I simply thought that in this manner it would have been easier to handle Kalameet/ Natsu manner of thinking and personality. As for those who know who Kalameet is, please don't kill me, but I am a fan of the soul saga, despite the fact that I don't like that much the 2 and 3, which, despite some improvements, weren't able to match the first one and even demon soul, also, Kalameet was my favourite boss both for his look, lore and gameplay. This is everything that I had to say for now, so see you next time.**


	2. Chapter 2: Awaited moment

**Ok, you don't know how much I desired to write this chapter and how much satisfaction will give me writing the next one, unfortunately, before I did it, I will have to write other stories and little news: maybe I will start a fourth story but I won't say anything more. As for what concern this story, I hope you're enjoying and liking it so I won't steal anymore of your time and leave you to the chapter, so good reading.**

 **-Awaited moment-**

'What a nuisance…' Kalameet thought in his mind while his body was lying on the deck of a ship that was heading toward the destination after which, he would leave the guild that hosted him for years and go on with his plan. Still…this wasn't the cause of his annoyance, rather he was indifferent to the idea of leaving Fairy Tail no, he was happy, because in this manner, he wouldn't have had to continue to fake motion illness! Really, he knew how dragon slayer magic worked and the consequences of learning it and worst of all, the fact of having motion illness and considering the fact that he had presented himself as such kind of slayer, it would be strange if he was the only one of them that didn't suffer it, even the second generation had inherited this trait!

However, returning to his current situation, he was on a large wooden boat, together with all the other members that were to take part in the S-class trial of this year and their partner. Now, normally he would have chosen Lisanna as partner, knowing full well her ability and her power, but he had a bad feeling about the place in which the trial would have taken place this year and he wanted to keep her safe, so he chooses Happy. But, despite the clear message he had told her with how he acted, she was a stubborn one and found another way to come there and it was by being Juvia's partner. This making him slightly annoyed that she didn't listen to him, but relieved at the same time, since he would have had someone that could really help him if he needed to.

'Am I always been such continuous contradiction…or did I became after that?' He wondered in his head, forgetting the fact he was supposed to be in pain due to the ship's movements and letting his memories flow. Years of events and facts resurfaced in his mind, but the one that he was now focused on was one that he considered as his second birth: it's been so long since then, but that memory was still as fresh as if it happened yesterday. Slowly, his mind continued to focus on this thought and soon he lost the sense of time and also forgot to fake the illness that was typical of the dragon slayers. This didn't go unnoticed by Lissanna, who in response let out a sigh in slight annoyance, but soon a small smile formed on her face and her annoyance disappeared completely, then she returned to doing what she was doing before looking at him: enjoying the trip with a little addition, the fact that she had also to keep an eye on Kalameet to make sure that no one noticed the fact that he wasn't feeling hill anymore.

Time seemed to flew, neither of the two caring to notice how much they had to wait before reaching their destination and simply enjoyed their trip. One by thinking about the past and the many adventure he lived, the places he visited and what he did, the other instead by talking about everything that she could think about with the other passengers of the ship, this by not mentioning certain delicate matters that weren't suitable for the context she was in. A few hours had passed since they left the continent to head to the place in which the trial was going to take place and still, the ship didn't seem to show any sign of stopping, the sails still outspread and waves were still splashing against the ship's hull which continued undaunted to push forward.

Still, the more they neared to their destination, the more Kalameet could feel that something was wrong, or rather, he could feel an energy source that was different from any other he had felt before. But, it also felt awfully familiar, as if someone he knew was wearing a mask over his face that was so thin that he could partially see its face, yet, he couldn't understand or remember who was under that mask and this was really pissing him off. However, this wasn't all that he could feel, because, if one of the two energy signature was 'blurry' the other was clear enough to let him understand its origin and this made him only more worried and caused his guard to reach its top. He had already felt that kind of energy in the past and those who had it were always enemies that weren't to be underestimated. So, it wasn't a surprise that his expression had turned from one that showed that he was lost in thoughts from one of complete seriousness. His mind trying to understand the reason that brought them on the island that was sacred to Fairy Tail, maybe it was due to the fact that the island was said to have some kind of hidden power that no one could really understand properly, or maybe it was because the first master's grave was said to be there. No, neither of the two could explain why they were there: if they were after an energy source, surely they would've went after him and he doubted that they were interested in a grave that he knew wasn't there. How he knew this? Pretty easy, when Mavis was still alive, so he was, he heard rumours of her but wasn't interested and put them aside, this until the news of her sudden disappearance followed by her death months later, all this in coincidence with an increased amount of death's energy that would have made someone he knew pretty satisfied. Still, this news caught his interest and so he started to search for her to clear some of his questions, but unfortunately his search was fruitless, he couldn't find any traces that could lead to her or her corpse and when he thought that he had found a trail it always reached a dead end. However, he was sure of two things: first, her grave on Tenrou island was a fake one, second, her body was somewhere in Fiore, he could still feel small traces of her energy in the country, but he couldn't put them together to find her. So, this lead to his current question: what were 'they' doing there?

"Maybe they decided to make a tour of the world." A voice said from over him, his body still lying next to the fence that delimitated the deck of the ship. Slowly, he turned his head up and what he saw were a pair of blue eyes combined with short white hair an almost childish face that looked so innocent and a smile that made him let out a small laugh in response.

"I think they won't do one until they will be sure that I'm either killed or gone." He answered sarcastically while deciding that he had enough of lying down and got up on his feet, then the first thing he did was starting to stretch his limbs, starting from his legs and concluding with his arms. Not having a chance to walk or move and having to fake an illness that he didn't have, made his body protest for the prolonged broken immobility.

"Aren't you worried that someone might notice you?" Lisanna asked looking around and noticing with relief that no one had noticed them yet, nor they were looking at their direction and paying attention to them. That was a true luck, because if someone would see their cheerful and hot-headed dragon slayer not suffering motion sickness, then they would have most surely started to make questions and neither of the two wanted to answer them. Besides, they actually had much more important matters to deal with, such was the reason behind the presence of 'who they knew who' on their destination.

"No besides, we're almost…!" Suddenly Kalameet stopped his speech, his eyes suddenly looking at the ship's prow, his mouth left open to show his confusion and surprise. Then, without any warning, he started to walk toward the direction he was looking at, until, he reached the limit of the deck and the he put his hand on the nearby fence, his eyes still looking in the same direction: toward Tenrou island, which now was visible to them. However, his sudden behaviour, was making Lisanna worried and she was about to ask the reason behind such change, when he talked.

"He's here…" His voice now was different, seeming distant, his mind drifting thinking about other things that only him knew and his eyes looking at the island in the distance seeking for something that they couldn't find. His grip on the fence becoming stronger and then cracking it, his teeth gritted in frustration and anger.

"Kalameet…?" She said putting a hand on his arm, hoping to understand what was bothering him and had suddenly caused him to act in this manner. Still, he didn't look at her and continued to stare at the sole piece of earth that was visible in that endless sea with such fury that she was sure that if he would have had the occasion, he would have flown at full speed toward it and then unleashed his power until even the ashes would remain. Seeing that he wasn't going to answer nor to pay her attention, she decided to return to the others, knowing that soon the trial would begin.

"They're to pay the bill and finish the job." He stated with the same anger of before. His words like a sea that didn't show any sign of storms, but that was about to show how cruel it could be. However, upon hearing his words, something inside Lisanna clicked, an idea about what he was thinking making its way in her mind.

"You can't mean…"

"I do." He replied, not giving her the chance to finish her sentence, having by now understood that she had got what he meant when he spoke before. Surprise turned into shock and then fear overcame everything other in her, she had to make use of all her self-control not to let herself be drowned by her emotions. She was expecting this to happen, yes, but not so soon and not in such an occasion and place. In this manner they would only attract more attention, so why? Why this sudden action?

However, her thoughts didn't last long, because suddenly the ship stopped, the sail that had been fuelled by the wind up till now, suddenly stopping. It wasn't a very sudden motion, the boat itself wasn't travelling at great speed, still, the friction caused by it, made all the present took a step forward to avoid falling, except Gajeel and Wendy who were still lying on the floor and were now slowly getting up, no one spotting 'Natsu' or Lisanna.

Then, the next thing all of them noticed, was Makarov dressed in a small summer skirt covered in Fairy Tail's symbols on the second floor of the deck of the ship with his body covered in sweet like all the other, only exception being: Kalameet and Juvia, even Lisanna had to fake her condition to not risk to raise any suspicion.

"It's said that, Fairy used to live on this island..." The short man declared with stern eyes, making Kalameet not believe him. He had already visited that place in the past and last time he checked, on that island weren't fairies, but a small town of people and a guild, of which he didn't remember the name. However, they were wiped out during a guild war with another one and from what he gathered, only two people were able to escape and survive one being Mavis Vermilion, as for the other, he didn't remember it.

"…and here sleeps Fairy Tail's first master: Mavis vermilion." Second lie, her body wasn't there, but somewhere else in the continent and he hadn't been able to track it up till now.

"Only the team that get through this will clear the first exam." He continued, showing how the first part of the trial would work through a magic projection and to say the truth: to Kalameet it could be both a good thing and a bad one. There were a total of ten paths they could chose, three lead to a battle against the remaining three S-class mage of the guild, four to two different area in which he assumed the groups that met each other would have had to fight and finally the last one was the quiet path, which he assumed meant that those that chose it wouldn't have had to fight. Now, if the condition would have allowed him, Kalameet would have choose one of the three battle against Gildarts Mira and Erza, but this wasn't the case; however, he couldn't use his ability to probe all the ways to choose the fastest path, otherwise his enemy would be alerted of his presence and know where he is and he doubted that they would be so kind not to attack him on the spot, moreover, he had to preserve as much energy as he could, because what he was going to do would cost him a lot.

"Your goals in the first exam are power and luck!" He stated pointing at the mass of people on the ship's deck with folding fan in Japanese style. Still, his words left some the people a little 'surprised'? Obviously they were scared of having to face one of the three monsters that were those S-class mages. Still, there were other people that didn't feel the same way: for example, Lucy and Cana were excited and trusted their luck in choosing the right path, Elfman and Evergreen were kind of indifferent and Gajeel was feeling excited at the thought of a good fight. The pink haired slayer and Lisanna, on the other hand were rather worried and stressed by their situation and by what they knew they would have to face.

"Logically, only 6 out of 8 teams can clear this exam." He continued, causing a certain ice stripper to react to this statement and, much to the joy of a certain water stalker mage, he was naked, missing even his boxers, which often were the only part of his cloths that weren't taken off. Still, before he was wearing only them, so the fact that he took them off was because he couldn't do the same with any other thing.

"WHAT!? ERZA AND GILDARTS ROUTE ROADS ARE OFF LIMITS!" He yelled in panic, seriously, he didn't want to face one of those two monsters, not that Mira was less dangerous, only he, like any other in the guild, had become accustomed to the now calm and cheerful Mira, not the one that was called the 'She-Devil'.

Still, this affirmation caused Kalameet to feel a little satisfied, he really didn't like Gray's way of acting, knowing that it was due to his past, but still finding irritating sometimes and, he also knew that with his current power he could take down all possible threat that this exam could make him face, only, against the light brown haired crash mage he would be forced to put more effort than against the other two.

"NOW LET'S BEGIN! EXAM START!" The short man yelled, making some of the people surprised by his affirmation, two of which were Gray and Loke.

"Aren't we still on the ocean?" The lion stellar spirit asked, sharing the same confusion as his teammate.

"HAPPY!" Kalameet shouted and before anyone could notice a blue blur went straight for his back, lifting him up and heading for their destination. He wasn't allowed to waste time, nor he was going to, his anger was growing again, increasing itself after each passing second. On the other hand, the blue Exceed was excited and joyful for the trial that awaited them, but failed to notice, his teammate emotions. He was then about to leave the ship, when suddenly he impacted against an invisible barrier, this surprising him and making the small cat with wings back away. In that instant then, it became visible to all the other that the ship's border was covered in runes that generated a force barrier around it.

Immediately all of them understood who created them and started to curse the rune mage that was Freed, who simply replied by saying that the barrier would disappear after a few minutes. Still, Kalameet didn't have that much time, nor he would spend one more second on that ship, so, ignoring all the voices that were talking under him, he charged at the barrier one again, his right fist ready to hit its target, but brute force wouldn't be enough to create the opening that he needed. So he waited, until his fist was about to connect with the force that stopped him from leaving that place and then, when it was mere centimetres away from it, black flames engulfed it and when he hit the barrier, a crack wide enough to let he and Happy go was created.

"Let's go Happy." He said to the surprised animal, not expecting this outcome and not noticing the fact that both the slayer's eyes and voice weren't filled with the usual excitement that he would normally had when he had to face a strong opponent and being instead cold and scaring.

"AYE SIR!" He shouted, before sprinting in the opening and leaving behind the rest of the teams, minus Leavy, Gajeel, Elfman and Evergreen, who knew enough of rune's magic to allow them to escape easily. He on the other hand, didn't know that kind of magic very well and had to use his fire to consume the magic that generated that barrier, still, he decided not to use too much power to allow his target of his previous fist to regenerate and not let any other mages escape, the more they were far from him, the better it was. Unfortunately, once he reached the shores of the island, he found himself seeing eight different caves with a different letter over them, but only seven of them were available, one having a cross over its entrance, sign that the duo that left the ship before him had choose to take that path.

"Natsu, what path should we choose?" Asked Happy on his side, knowing that his friend loved fighting, he would almost surely try to choose one of the path that would allow him to satisfy his desire, but he wasn't really fond of this and somehow hoped that he ended up choosing the quiet path.

Still, he didn't give him an answer and his eyes wandered on all the entrance that were available, he didn't spend energy or time trying to figure out what path was the quickest one to pass the exam and instead he focused on the track of energy that his target was letting out. Almost all the roads he could choose had the same amount of energy that he was looking for, only one seemed to have slightly more and that was the path that coincided with the letter E. So he was about to walk toward it, when the small ball of fur talked again.

"Natsu are you ok?" He asked with concern, worried about how what he considered as his best friend was acting. Never before he had seen him do so. Yes, there had been times in which his usual cheerfulness was subsided by sorrow or anger, but he always acted in response to his own emotion. This time it was different: his behaviour was cold and calculator, as if he was a complete different person. This normally would make him tease him in some manner, but this time the aura that leaked from him, was enough to scare him and not make him act as usual.

"Yes, I am…" He replied. Hearing his words, together with a quick glance at him, make him remember that it was better not to lose his mask of Natsu Dragneel and continue to act as such, because if they knew who he really was, then the consequences would only cause him troubles.

"HAPPY, I'M SURE THAT THE RIGHT PATH IS THIS ONE! THAT E MUST BE FOR ERZA!" He exclaimed with fake excitement, simulating how the person that everyone in the guild knew would act and choosing the path that could be the best one for him.

"BUAHAH WAIT FOR ME ERZA!" He continued while running inside the cave with Happy right behind him and his wings spread.

However, shortly after he entered there, he slowed down. The place was dark, to the point that he could barely see around him. Still, he could distinguish enough to understand that it was a simply cave with rock walls that went straight without stopping and what's worse, nothing was happening. This making his nervousness rise, glancing around as if expecting some kind of surprise attack while also trying to focus on the track that he was following to understand where 'he' was. Still, he wasn't able to figure this out, that a sudden light blinded him. His eyes slowly readjusted to the change and then allowing him to see clearly his surrounding: he was now in a wide cave with its ceiling with some opens that allowed the ray of the sun to light the place, its walls, however, had a particular form with the rocks having a round form with some moss practically everywhere, also there were some various kind of plants sprouting in that place that went from cactus of various heights, ferns and what looked like dandelions. The floor instead was quite different, being made of gravel and other kind of small rocks.

Looking around, Kalameet found that the energy signature he was following had grown a little but was coming from the opposite part of the place he was in and between him and his target stood the last person he wished to fight right now, not because he couldn't beat him, but because defeating him would mean to use some of the power he had kept hidden from everyone.

'I'm really starting to think that back then he cursed me with eternal bad luck.' He thought annoyed by the situation and mentally rolling his eyes. Normally he would have done it, but if he would do it, but he opted for not showing his current thoughts.

"Yo Natsu, looks like you got bad luck this round." Gildarts said with a small smile, his eyes showing his determination and decision. To him this was an interesting determination, knowing that 'Natsu' would do anything to defeat him and making him wonder how far he would push himself to win this fight. On the other hand, the small fur ball that was his teammate had anime tears streaming down his eyes, knowing just how powerful the brown haired mage was and already imaging the outcome of the fight. Oh, how wrong both of them were. Kalameet.

"You know how I hate holding back." The crash mage added. Kalameet instead had his eyes shadowed by his hair, his mind trying to figure out a way to pass this exam without wasting too much energy. But considering his opponent, there were two things he was sure of: first, Gildarts wasn't someone to take lightly, his crash magic could obliterate almost anything that touched, this making it a good defense but also a powerful weapon, still it had its limits and he knew how to make use of them; second, he couldn't waste too much energy against him or he wouldn't be able to achieve what he was planning to do and that was out of question. Still, if he was sure that Makarov wasn't stupid enough to think that the ace of his guild could be defeated easily, so the true trial here was to achieve the requirements that were necessary to go on.

"Yes, I do…and this is why I won't play around." He replied, showing to him his eyes and letting his power flow freely in his body. In what he was going to do after this the surprise factor was useless, 'he' was probably expecting him to arrive and knew that he would come after 'he'. So at least he would use this fight as a warm-up. Taking his battle stance, he glared at his opponent who smiled to his determination and did the same, Happy instead wisely decided to get far enough not to end in the cross fire. As for Gildarts, he was surprised by how the slayer reacted and of the seriousness that was visible in his eyes, never before he had seen that gaze and it somehow scared them, but to him this was only the proof that he was going to give his best to pass the exam this year.

Not wasting the time, he had, Kalameet sprinted toward his opponent at such speed that left him surprised. The slayer then found himself close enough to his opponent to use his fist and he immediately send one straight to his face, but the crash mage wasn't the ace of Fairy Tail for nothing and caught his fist with his own hand just in time before it connected to his face. But, this wasn't a surprise for the teen who instead let a small grin surface and before the crash mage could realize his next move, a burst of orange flames with accents of dark yellow came out from his fist and hit his upper body, making him back away of a few centimetres. This slightly annoying the teen, who feared that the power he had just used wouldn't have been enough to defeat this man. However, what he did took both Happy and said man completely off guard, sure they both knew that Natsu was powerful but to push Gildarts back, well that was a surprise.

Noticing the opening and not desiring to waste it, Kalameet charged at his opponent again, going for a frontal attack with his fist ablaze. But this time, he wasn't able to land the hit he desired and instead found himself in the trajectory of a fist charged with crash magic. However, he had fought stronger opponent and wasn't as obvious as many thought. The attack that was directed at him hit instead the ground where he was standing a moment ago. This again left the brown haired mage surprised and his surprise only increased when saw the teen behind him, but before he could react, he felt a sharp pain on his good side, where he hadn't been hit by Acnologia during his century quest and then, he was sent flying away of more than a good metre. Understanding that now he had ended in a loop of dodge and hit, he planted himself on the ground and with his teeth clenched rose his good arm in the air before slamming on the ground: immediately a white wave of magic destroyed the area around him in a range of four meters. It was really hard to hold himself back, especially with Natsu charging and attacking him in such aggressive manner, but this wasn't a true fight, but an exam.

"…Really Natsu…I didn't expect this from you. You really surprised me with those moves?" He asked with a grin, to him Natsu was almost like a son, he had saw him grow and his tendency to go and look for a fight when he could, made him really someone similar to him. Still, the person he was fighting against wasn't the same Natsu he knew, no this person was different, each attacks and movements were calculated and well done, each with a precise objective but that had one final target: to defeat the opponent. The Natsu he knew would have probably charged at him recklessly and tried to take him down by pure force, but this one knew the importance of when to hit and where, making him much more dangerous. However, this only meant that he had grown over time and had matured, something he could only be happy of.

"Time is a great teacher and the world is quite wide. You can never know what will happen." He answered not losing focus on the fight, if he really wished to win quickly and by not wasting too much energy, then he needed to hit the right spots at the right time. Still, he couldn't aim for vital spots or he would most surely end up killing him and this was a nuisance, since he normally tried to be as effective as possible when fighting and not making a problem to kill the opponent.

"AHAHAHAH…I see. Seems like these last years had taught you something!" He continued enjoying the fight he was having and oblivious of Kalameet's thoughts and of the expression of utter shock on Happy's face. The small exceed would have never expected his best friend to be able to hold his ground against the most powerful mage in their guild that could be considered as on par with their master, but the fact that he even pushed him back was something he never thought possible.

As for the two opponents, they had temporary stopped and were eyeing each other, probably looking for any kind of opening or chance to land aa good hit. But while Kalameet had a firm position that didn't show anything of what he was thinking or planning. Gildarts, instead, was much more relaxed, considering this fight nothing more than a chance to see how much Natsu had improved and if really was wroth being S-class and until now he had to admit that he was, the only negative thing being the cold and almost menacing attitude he had showed him since the fight begun. However, this calm was starting to irritate Kalameet, he didn't have time to lose and if his opponent didn't want to act, then he would.

"…Fire dragon's ROAR!" Flames came out of his mouth like a torrent, burning and scorching everything they came in touch and they were heading directly toward the crash mage that was the opponent of the owner of those flames. Still, the target of said fire seemed unfazed by the display that was being directed at him and kept his gaze on the incoming attack, this without that losing his grin. This fight had been pretty intrusting until now and he was sure that the more it progressed, the more he would be able to enjoy it. There was just one problem: when he had fun, he tended to forgot to hold back and the consequences of it was something he would prefer to avoid.

As for the fact that he was now face to face with a torrent of fire aimed at him, he didn't feel any fear. Sure, he could feel the power behind that fire, but it was nothing he could handle, so, he prepared himself and when he was about to be hit by Natsu's breath attack, he punched it straight in its centre and then, it split, like it was made of solid material, the fire was divided in numerous cube that fell on the ground before disappearing into thin air. At this point the brown haired mage thought that Natsu would go for an attack on his side or even on the front, having used that breath attack as a distraction to give him the opportunity to attack. However, he noticed that he was nowhere to be found around him, immediately a thought passed in his mind and made him look up. His eyes widened slightly and the grin that was on his face became even more evident: over his head was his opponent and he was ready to unleash another attack.

"FIRE DRAGON'S IRON FIST!" At this point his fist was covered in orange fire, not surprising the crash mage, who had already witnessed this attack, but didn't expect what happened next. Suddenly, the fire that was only present on the fist, engulfed his entire arm, then, he reached the ground and surprising him again, he didn't hit him, not that he had aimed at him, but the ground right in front of his feet, cracking the rocks and making him lose some balance, creating the opening he was waiting for.

Having his vision obstructed by the fire that was engulfing his arm, he couldn't see what his next move would be. This making his grin disappear for a second while his eyes looked at the fire expecting an attack that was sure would come.

"Fire dragon's slash." Kalameet muttered at low voice, deciding to use one of his new moves, this was both a good chance to test a theory and to fight in a more familiar manner to him.

Removing his arm from between him and Gildarts, he widened his other hand and then dark red fire covered it, before extending in four long claws that were aiming at the crash mage's torso, not intending to kill him, but to incapacitate enough to allow him to pass the exam. Moreover, the brown haired man, couldn't dodge the attack, the timing of the teen's attack was practically perfect, he had used his first move to approach him and position himself so that he could create the opening he needed to have a chance of attacking and then he used that chance to strike. However, he wasn't someone to give up easily and the excitement of the fight, made him forgot that what he was doing wasn't an actual fight but a test. So he readied his fist, bringing on his head's side, white magic energy charging on it before he unleashed it toward the teen. His claw met his fist, both unleashing their power and causing an explosion that shook the entire cave and blinded both the fighter and even the only one Happy, who had to close his eyes and tried to shield himself with his paws, the force of the explosion reaching even him and making him back away of a few feet. Then something flew from where the impact had taken place and crashed on one of the walls of the cave, causing a crater of medium size to be created there and to rise a good amount of dust created by the crumbled rock.

"Tch." Kalameet grunted while he forced himself up by using the debris around him and what remained of the wall on which he crashed to stand once more. He hadn't received any particular damage or wound, only a few scratches and a pair of bruises. However, he didn't even loo at himself, already knowing that he could go on without problems, still, he was annoyed by the fact that Gildarts had been able to push him back, not because this meant that he was stronger than him or anything, he could care less about it. But if he had been able to accomplish what he had just done, then that meant that he now would most likely fight him with all his power and at that point the only way for him to fight back and hope of pass the exam would be to fight him seriously. At that point that wouldn't even be a true fight, but rather an overkill from him, but he couldn't do it, because otherwise he would end up not being able to fight properly after this and that was exactly what he must avoid at all cost.

"AHAH…sorry Natsu, I think I overdid with that last attack." The brown haired mage called out with a grin of apology and embarrassment while scratching the back of his head. These, clear signs that he didn't intend to unleash so much power, especially considering that this wasn't a real fight but a test. Despite this, he couldn't help but be surprised by the fact that even though that the blow that the teen had just received was quite powerful, he seemed perfectly fine with only a few scratches.

"Though I have to say that you improved more than I imaged eheh…" He continued with the same tone and expression of before. He was really enjoying this fight, more than what he had imaged and he would gladly continue it, but unfortunately that wasn't his purpose. He knew Natsu very well and knew that in terms of power he could already be considered as an S-class, still, he was missing something to be reach that level and his task now was to be sure that he was ready for the burden that came in becoming S-class. So, with some reluctance, he prepared himself to finish that fight and made sure that the slayer in front of him was ready. His grin disappeared and his eyes lost all their cheerfulness, his expression turning completely serious. This made Kalameet rise his guard, this was a clear sign that something was up and he wouldn't let the man in front of him take by surprise.

"Natsu, you really improved in the past years, more than I could have imaged, but, my duty is to make sure that you are ready to pass this exam. So, I will ask you: do you think you're ready for this?" The air around them seemed to become completely motionless and everything became as quiet as it could be as the dead. Tension grew between them, each other gazing in the other's eyes, studying them, analysing them, looking for an opening or simply trying to understand the other thoughts; even Happy, from his position, could feel how the situation was developing and he didn't like it.

"It's not up to me to decide if I'm ready or not." Kalameet replied with no particular ceremony and keeping a stern voice and continuing to eye the crush mage in front of him. He had already figured out what he meant and in truth, it wasn't even the first time he had a discussion of this kind so he already knew how where it would end.

"Eheh…you really changed Natsu. Well, if you say so…then my duty here is concluded. You have passed the test." He concluded with a grin of his own and with a hint of satisfaction. To say the truth, he still didn't really know if Natsu was ready or not to take the burden of being S-class, even if he had showed him that he had changed and matured, he still felt like he was missing something important but he couldn't understand what it was.

However, once the teen heard the crash mage's words, he let his magic disappear and was about to let out a sigh of relief, but decided against it. Finally, that fight was over and on top of that, he had passed the exam, this was really a good thing, almost too good from his point of view to believe it. Lucky him that it wasn't a dream of some sort but was in fact real and he wouldn't waste such occasion.

"Happy, let's go." He called out, not forgetting that beside him and Gildarts, in that place was also his little companion, Happy and forgetting him would cause suspicious to rise on him and during that fight, he already showed enough of his true self. Still, the small fur ball that he had called out didn't move immediately and continued to stare with his mouth wide open the two mages. He had saw all the fight between them and for how short it could be, he couldn't believe to what he saw, not only Natsu was able to damage, even if weakly, Gildarts, but he even pushed him back and endured one of his attack without receiving much damage and he could hardly believe it. But that was only what really happened and there was nothing he could do.

"Ohi, Earthland to Happy." Kalameet said while waving his hand in front of the exceed, his brain clearly was still processing what he just saw. Seeing that he was still motionless and with his mouth wide open, he took a thinking pose, that 'Natsu' would normally assume when he is trying to figure out a way to solve a problem. But in reality, he was kind of annoyed by the fact he was there, not moving of an inch and making him lose time, still, he assumed this was the price for having enough luck not to have to get serious during his fight with Gildarts. As for said man, he was looking at the duo with a smile, happy that in the end, Nastu was always the Natsu they all knew, or so he thought.

Finally, after nearly five minutes of thinking, in which Kalameet was practically eating his nails and cursing whoever he could think of for the scene he had to fake not to make his cover blow, he faked the reaction that the Natsu that was known from the guild he was in when he found a solution to a problem. Even if he originally had planned to leave the guild shortly after the trial, he still preferred not to blow up his cover, after all, it could come in handy in the future.

"HEY HAPPY CHARLE IS HERE WITH A BOQUET OF FISH!" He yelled, thinking of the reaction that he would cause to the fur ball and already laughing internally. That exceed had two great passions, one that he had since birth, fish, and the other that was more recent, Charle; so putting those two things together for him was like heaven to him and probably he had dreamed countless times about this.

"EEEHH! WHERE!? WHERE!? WHERE!?" He yelled with his wings out and his eyes looking frenetically around in search of such paradisiac vision, a small drop of droll escaping from the corner of his mouth, showing that he was in fact a true glutton when it came to eating fish. This made him laugh, but for the sake of not causing any unwanted suspicious to rise he accentuated it by making a loud laugh that echoed in the cave and letting himself roll on the ground while putting his hand on his belly to fake his condition. Sure he found the way the exceed reacted funny, but not as funny as to justify his reaction.

"EEEEHH! Natsu you're so mean." Happy called out while lightly scratching said slayer in protest to his joke that made him cry anime tears.

"Ahahah…ok, ok little buddy, once this will end we'll go to fish, ok?" He asked, trying to calm him and continue to advance. Slowly then, both of thme made their way toward the exit where Gildarts was standing and having a clear view of the duo, which caused even to him to laugh. No matter how much time passed or how Natsu could change, those two always get along with each other, or so he thought. Still, when the pink haired teen was next to him, he took the chance to say some last words before he let them continue.

"You really have changed Natsu, back when I still had my arm and leg you would have refused the chance to continue and instead would have tried to fight me." He said with a small smile, causing to said slayer to stop and look at him for a second before answering back.

"I know my limits and for how much I can love fight and want to surpass them, I also must know when to quit." These words left the crash mage quite surprised, not expecting such thing from him. However, his surprise didn't last long and his expression changed into one of satisfaction, he had understood the true meaning of this fight and on top of that without forcing him to beat the crap out of him to make him understand it. On the other hand, Kalameet had already figure out what the crash mage was aiming to and so he decided to play along. The other option was that he would have had to use his true power to defeat him and pass the exam, but that would have only caused him more trouble than anything and to add another reason why he thought that his decision was the right one was the fact that now he would have had to fight with everything he got if he hoped to have a chance to win.

Giving the teen a nod of approval, Gildarts let the duo continue with the exam, allowing both of them to get out of that cave to join all the other members that had passed this part of the trial.

Letting his eyes close for a second, Kalameet let his mind focus again on his true task and on the energy signature he was following before he started his fight. It was getting closer after each step he made and slowly, he was starting to understand his position with more precision, but both his current condition and the fact he was in a cave didn't allow him to determine with precision the exact position of his target and this kind of annoyed him.

Finally, after another pair of minutes of walking he saw the light of the end of the tunnel that the cave they had entered had become. Once they were out of it, they were greeted by a total of five people: Levy and Gajeel, who seemed to be in a very bad mood, Lucy and Cana and then the master.

"Ehi Natsu, so you passed too." Lucy called out waving at them with a large smile. However, he didn't respond to her and walked past her and the others, before sitting in a near rock with his eyes closed. He preferred not to talk or interact too much now, fearing that he could betray himself with either the words or the tone, even his behaviour was different than usual, but this was something he couldn't help. He just wanted to go and search for his target as soon as possible and in truth, he hoped that the next part of the trial would have allowed him to be either left alone or wander freely around the island.

On the other hand, the way he was acting caught the others by surprise, all except Gajeel who was too busy brooding over something that probably only he and Levy knew about. Lucy was then about to go and ask Natsu why he was acting so when she heard a noise coming from some near bushes and shortly after she heard it, two more contestant came out, these being Gray and Loke, otherwise known as Leo.

"So you made it through the first exam after all." The blonde replied with a small grin, for some reason her concern for the teen had quickly disappeared as soon as they arrived. The reason: it was because Kalameet wasn't in the mood to talk and so he used one of his ability to 'influence' ensure that no one would pay him too much attention, this way he would have had some privacy. However, he didn't really have a chance to relax and try to isolate himself from the noise that the others were causing, that Makarov stepped into the small clearing where they had gathered and talked, this forcing him to pay attention.

"Well…is everyone here?" He asked walking toward them while analysing all the groups that were able to pass the first part of the trial, already knowing the path that each one of them had choose and in consequence, who they had to fought against, except Gajeel and Levy, to arrive there.

"Well, it seems so." He called out looking around and scanning each of the present team and stopping for a second on a certain fire mage. This didn't go unnoticed by said person, but he preferred to ignore him and pretend that he didn't notice it.

"Now: Cana and Lucy won against Freed and Bixlow in a fight route. Natsu and Happy were able to pass against Gildarts. Levi and Galjeel were lucky to take the quiet route. Gray and Loke defeated Mest and Wendy in the other fight route." He listed, letting all the present know who the other members had to overcome to arrive there, all this accompanied by the unnecessary comments of Gray, which almost made Kalameet punch him in the face, but he decided otherwise and remained on the rock he was lying on.

Still, after that he called the last team, his facial expression suddenly changed turning onto one that even Kalameet considered as impossible to make and he had seen things that should be impossible but that had been realized, somehow. However, the expression he made caused a certain ice mage to slightly back away and he didn't even try to hide it and instead voiced his thoughts.

"Wh-What's with that face gramps…?" He hesitantly asked. Both his hands raised over his head and his voice a little shaken by the guild master's look.

"Juvia and Lissanna met her…the female knight that doesn't know to hold back." He answered with both his eyes and his voice hollow, as if someone had taken away his soul, in a metaphorical manner. If such thing would be to truly happen, then a certain someone would have recognised such act and would have acted according to the situation. He had seen many thing during his 'life' and even thing such as the theft of souls and what happen when it is truly taken away can be considered even worse than death from a certain perspective, but also less painful from another.

When Kalameet head the name of Lisanna and the fact she had lost, he immediately understood that at least she wouldn't interfere with his plan, she probably had decided to lose on purpose to be able to see how things would develop form far and then act only if necessary. Surely what he was going to do was something he considered as his fault, so it was up to him to rectify it, or so the little pride he had left told him and in truth he really wanted to do get rid of it, but he wasn't able to and for this reason he kind of hated himself, however, he knew how important this mission was and if he wouldn't be able to accomplish it alone, then he would ask for her help.

' _Use everything that is at your disposal to accomplish what you want and never let yourself be blinded by your vanity or pride, because that's the worse error you can made._ ' These words echoed in his mind, bringing some of his numerous memories back and making him grow a small smile. To him it still seemed yesterday that all this started and it could effectively be, after all time to him wasn't a constant but a variable.

He was so absorbed in his own thoughts, that he almost missed to notice the yell that the older 'brother' of Lissanna let out to announce the fact that even he made through it. Slwoly he got up from his position and looked at the last team and noticed that both of them weren't in a good shape. Their bodies covered in bruises of different size and even a pair of cuts here and there. He then got completely up and stood again on his two legs, then he lightly dusted his pants, a gesture that was aimed more to let time pass than to clean his clothes. But, before he had finished to do it, he heard something from the duo that had just arrived that caught his attention.

"I can't say that as a man…" Elfman said with depression filling his voice and showing on his face, his eyes looking at the ground in shame. Apparently it seemed that the only blonde of the group had asked them how they were able to pass the test, knowing that they had to fight against Mira and she wasn't an opponent to scoff at. Even he would have been able to use some more advanced 'tricks' than his fire dragon slayer magic to defeat her. This because he couldn't bring out the true potential of that magic unless he fought to protect something that was precious to him, stupid fire dragons and their overprotective attitude. Indeed, he knew the importance to protect, but, at the same time he knew the importance of attacking and that magic didn't allow him to go on pure offense and he mainly preferred to fight in that way.

"We managed to strike her in a second-split opening." Evergreen replied with some nervousness. Clearly both of them weren't exactly comfortable with what they did to pass, probably they did something embarrassing that they partially regretted. Still, such matter didn't interest Kalameet too much, who decided not to lay down again, knowing that now that all the participants had arrived, Makarov would have proceeded to introduce the next part of the exam.

"Very well…now, these five teams have passed the first part of the trial. Now the second, shall begin…" He called out, catching everyone's attention. All of them focused on what he would say, each one determined to become S-class and not to fail the trial.

"The second part of the S-class mage exam will consist in finding the grave of our first master Mavis. The time limit is of six hours. I'll be waiting there." The old man said before disappearing in the foliage behind him and probably preparing to cast a spell to teleport himself to his destination.

Although, knowing that he would have been near the grave, would have meant that for Kalameet would be an easy task to track his magic signature and then arrive there. Moreover, despite the great camouflage used to hide it, he could feel that on this island there was a powerful magic that had a similar signature to 'Fairy Sphere' but that was somehow different. Well that didn't matter to him right now, because this second part was exactly what he needed to do what he was there for.

"Happy, let's go!" He said, trying his best to seem excited and fake his 'usual' self, but it was near to impossible for him. The moment was tense and he knew that if he failed then the consequences would be impossible for him to endure. So it was fundamental that he succeeded. Unfortunately, this didn't go completely unnoticed by his companion: he had known him ever since he was born, literally, or at least, he had known the same side of him that everyone in the guild knew and the hint that his voice had caused him to became suspicious and worried for him. The way he talked and fought back against Gildarts was different from the Natsu he knew and this made him worried and made him…scared.

"Natsu...is everything alright…?"

'Dammit…' Kalameet thought, resisting the impulse to bit his lip, he knew that he had just made a mistake that could cost him much. He knew that he had to keep the mask he was wearing, but it wasn't easy to do it.

"Yeah, just a little tense about the trial." He replied, wanting not to make him understand what he was hiding. Still, his affirmation made him even more worried.

"But, you had never been tense before!" He almost yelled, never before his friend had been tense or had acted as he is doing now.

"Well, yes…but…this is my chance, to show everyone how much I've improved and if I become S-class, I'm sure that Igneel will be proud." He replied with a toothy grin. His mind trying to think of something that could justify his previous statement and lucky him, it did, now the only thing that he could do was hope that his companion would have believed him.

Still, the small fur ball that was Happy, simply nodded and stayed silent, this making the slayer to release a sigh, knowing that this wasn't enough for the exceed to truly believe him. Still, he knew that he had one weakness that was fatal to him and he was going to use it to his own advantage. He then lowered himself until he was face to face with him, a smile on his face while one of his hand was on his companion's head and started to ruffle it.

"Come one, I promise that after this exam is over, we will spend an entire day fishing. How does it sound?" He said, causing Happy's eyes to widen and his expression to bright a little at his offer.

"REALLY?" He shouted with excitement.

"Yes." The pink haired teen replied not stopping to ruffle his fur, making him smile in return.

"So, let's go and find that grave shall we?!" He asked, but it was more of an affirmation to keep up the façade and considering how he reacted, it seemed like it succeeded in its purpose.

"AYE SIR!" Happy yelled in excitement and immediately summoned his wings on his back and then, in less than a blink of an eye he was on Kalameet's back and took off at high speed. This kind of surprised the slayer, but he didn't complain about it, because it was exactly what he wanted. To say the truth, he was partially surprised by the fact that this exceed could guess what he thought, or to be precise what Natsu would thought.

"Good job Happy, now I will be able to find the grave in no time!" Kalameet exclaimed, keeping up his mask while looking around himself and trying to focus on finding what he was looking for. At first, the signature he was following felt weak and not clear, but the more he focused, the more he could understand where HE was. Still, the energy signature wasn't clear enough to allow him to locate HIM with precision, no matter how much he focused or tried and in truth he was growing annoyed by this. This, until he didn't felt it: a sudden increase in its power that was still growing and becoming stronger after each second, as if it was about to explode.

"THAT WAY! I'M SURE IT'S THAT WAY THE RIGHT ONE!" He yelled, his mask slowly crumbling and letting his true self come out. Still, he was managing to not make Happy suspect anything, but he didn't know how much he would be able to keep this up.

"AYE SIR!" She shouted before sprinting at light speed toward said direction, nearing toward the same direction were that sudden increase that only Kalameet had felt. Not that he was surprised by this, the energy he was feeling was something only a few could detect, sure, once that the energy he was nearing everyone would have been able to feel it, but for now, he was the only one that he could do it and he was going to take full advantage of it.

Within seconds, they were practically over where his target was and then the small fur ball started to pant heavily, sweat started to come out of his body and to soak his blue fur. Each passing second only increased the amount of effort he needed to put in flying. Kalameet wasn't blind to this and immediately understood what was happening: his target must have understood that he was coming there and had started to intensify his aura there to avoid that some unwanted guest interrupted what was about to happen.

"Happy, I think we should land here for now." He said, this time not bothering to hide anything and letting his own anger to start to ooze out of him. As for the Exceed, he didn't even bother to complain about what his friend had just said and landed on the ground, the fatigue from remaining in the air was starting to become too much for him and so he didn't even notice the change in tone of the slayer or his anger.

Finally, when they reached the ground, Happy started to feel much better, feeling like his energy were slowly returning to him and he was sure that he now would be able to fly again but carrying his pink haired friend was now out of question. Seconds later after they landed on the ground, a third figure appeared in the clearing where they landed. He was looking rather young, maybe a pair of years older than Natsu; he had short black hair and dark eyes. His attire was formed by high-collared red and tan robes with gold trim, along with a large, flowing white toga draped around his torso. Still, there was one particular thing about his look that almost caused Kalameet to lose his cool and attack him as soon as he entered in his field of view and it was his smirk.

"Happy, leave this place now!" He nearly shouted, his anger rising by the second, but he needed to remain in control of himself.

"WHAT!? WHY?" The exceed replied, not wanting to leave his friend there, but then something caught his attention and when he looked in that direction, he saw the young man with dark hair and the aura that surrounded him, this making his entire body to start to shake in fear.

"You see it right. Leave this place before it's too late." The teen said without looking away from the dark haired teen, a silent dialogue was takin place there between the two.

"But…but…" The flying cat tried to argue, but couldn't find the words to do it, he knew that his friend was right, but he refused to let him alone. It was in front of this hesitation, that Kalameet stopped for a moment to stare at the other teen and looked directly at the small fur ball: his eyes softening and a toothy grin spread across his face, this made his buddy relax a little.

"Don't worry, I will be alright." He said with confidence, although, he knew that he was lying, after what would happen, he would have needed at least an entire week of relax to recover and he would be lying if he would have said that he wasn't looking forward it. Then, with a quick nod of his head, Happy took off again and left that place while shouting to his friend to be safe and to return. However, he didn't pay too much attention to it and focused again on HIS target.

"You really have decided to associate with strange people." He stated with the same smirk as before, his voice betraying a sense of satisfaction.

"You should be more worried about what will happen to you, Hangyaku." Kalameet stated coldly with hate dripping from each of his words.

"Really, well sorry to disappoint you but this body is quite comfortable."

"That body doesn't belong to you and I will make sure you will regret taking it."

Silence then fell on the place and the air between the two became so tense that it could be cut with a knife. One of the two was staring at the other with satisfaction and malice. Kalameet on the other hand had now his hair black and his eyes yellow, his gaze letting Hangyaku know that he held nothing but hate for him and was about to let it out. But such hate wasn't like a fire that burned everything on its path, but more like an ocean that was now calm but that could turn into a storm without that anyone could anticipate. He had waited for this fight for so long, years, decades, centuries, even he didn't know any more for how much time he had waited for this moment, but at least it had come and he wouldn't have wasted it, this time he would make sure to make up for his errors.

 **Well, nothing particular to say. I hope you had liked this chapter and wait for the next one, because there will be the first, true fight of Kalameet, because don't even think that the one against Gildarts was as such, because as I said in the story he was holding back, but next time, it will be finally time to go all out, so wait for it.**


	3. Chapter 3: My Enemy, My Brother

**I'm not dead…yet. So here is the new chapter of this story and sorry if it took me so much time, but I'm actually working on other projects, one in particular is my first original story, but I have yet to decide where, when and if I will publish it. If I will decide to do it then I will tell you. However, returning to the matter at hand, here is the new chapter, with a small addition at the end just to clarify something.**

 **-My Enemy, My Brother-**

'So they really were here…' Lisanna thought while trying to act as natural and calm as possible to not alert neither of the three girls that were there.

After she and Juvia were defeated by Titania, they both were brought here: to the camp that could be considered as Fairy Tail's base on the island. Once they reached it, they all started to relax and talk with each other of anything that came to their mind; everything seemed to be ok and calm, but the truth was different: ever since they arrived there, 'Lisanna' never lost track of him, following his energy and trying to understand if something happened. And until a few minutes ago, nothing occurred, but now, she just felt it: an impulse that only a few ones could perceive, but such thing indicated that he had found who he was looking for and that they were about to start their battle.

At this point, he could have simply sneaked out from their camp and go after him to try to help, but by doing so, she would surely rise some suspicious and the probability that they were exposed would only increase. So, she had to force herself to continue to act as if nothing had changed and hope for the best.

'I only hope they will be fine.'

…

"Seems like you became more cautious over time." Hangyaku sneered at his opponent.

"…" Still, Kalameet didn't answer him, his attention focused on the fight that was about to begin. He had just used some of his energy to create an invisible barrier around them that would prevent anyone from feeling their own energy signature. Still, if someone was to come there and then see them, nothing would have prevented them from interfering in their fight and once they would have entered the barrier, they would also have felt their power.

So, yes, he created a barrier that wasn't a true barrier, but he couldn't allow himself to spent too much energy in such way. Because now, he would have needed all of it.

They continued to stare at each other, both remaining in silence and glaring at each other in their own way: Kalameet with eyes filled with hate and a rage that could explode in any moment; his opponent, on the other hand, kept a wicked smile of mockery as if to provoke the black haired teen he was facing.

Still, the first of the two decided to unleash the full power of his hate and before anyone could predict it, he was in front of his opponent: one of his arm engulfed in black fire and it had taken the shape of a dragonic claw, then without wasting time, he used his claw to deliver a punch right in the middle of his chest, but once his fist made contact with its target, an explosion of the same black flames that covered his arm occurred, engulfing completely Hangyaku's body and successfully destroying the surrounding area. Then, the second after he unleashed his attack, he jumped back of three meters and prepared himself for anything that would be thrown at him.

"It seems like you haven't lost your touch…" Replied the mocking voice of Kalameet's opponent. Once that he was visible again, the black haired teen could see the amount of damage he had just caused and just as he expected, his target was perfectly fine with only a few scratches here and there. Still, everything around him was completely burned up to point of having become completely black and even the ash wasn't present.

"Still, if this body would have been a normal one now you would have completely obliterated it." He continued without losing the same fleer of before and using the same annoying tone that he used up till now.

"He would rather prefer to have his body destroyed rather than leaving it to the likes of you." He answered back firmly while not caring about concealing his hatred and instead letting it flow freely, but not allowing it to blind his reason. Because, no matter how much the rage could give the sensation of being invincible, if not put under control it would end up clouding their mind and making them take irrational decision.

"Really, is this what your dear brother would want?" The fleer on his face became even more evident if possible and now gave the impression that the one showing it was satisfied with what he was doing.

"No, but let me show you what he would wish me to do…" After these words, he immediately disappeared from sight for just one moment, but that moment was enough to change the current course of events: within that small time, the expression of Hangyaku changed and then he grasped his head with one hand while he bended in pain. His eyes were shut and when he opened them, he managed to stand up again, but his lips were twisted into a grimace of pain and anger and his vision was blurred. Still, his other senses were sharp enough to prevent him from not feeling the world around him, so when he felt a sharp pain on his back, the first thing he did was arch such part of his body and then screaming at the top of his lungs. There, he could feel his flesh being opened while his essence poured out from the body that he was residing in. He was fading, he could feel as much and he couldn't allow it.

By gritting his teeth, he disappeared and then reappeared around five meters away from his previous position. His breath was irregular and he could feel four slash across his back from which he was losing himself. By focusing all his energy there, he managed to barely close those cut, but he didn't have the chance to recover his breath that he felt a presence behind him ready to strike.

However, before Kalameet could hit him, he counterattacked by putting his hand on the former pink haired teen's belly and then suddenly he was sent back of a few meters, but he didn't lose his balance. This allowing him to counterattack immediately and again, he disappeared but didn't reappear. Instead he left a trail of black particles that fell on the ground and then disappeared. Slowly, Hangyaku walked toward where those particles where and then he looked at them: everything seemed to froze and silence fell all around him, even the air seemed to have stopped.

"…" Once he stopped to look at the ground he jumped, avoiding the sphere of black fire that came crushing on its former position and incinerating everything there. Still, he wasn't able to return to the ground, that he felt a strange sound on his right, he then looked in that direction and saw that his right arm was missing. At first his expression didn't change, but soon enough, he fell on the ground, clenching the hole where his arm used to be.

Again, everything became calm. Hangyaku was still on the ground, blood was flowing in abundance from the hole created by Kalameet, so much that any human would have already passed out for both pain and blood loss. The other one instead was standing a few meters away from him, but his appearance was different from before: almost all his body seemed to be covered by his own black fire, leaving uncovered only his face. His arms had become true claws like that of a demon, even his feet had undergone a similar transformation, but keeping a more human shape.

Gritting his teeth for having allowed his opponent to cause him all those damage, he removed his hand from the hole where his arm was missing and a magic circle appeared right in front of that opening, then a new arm started to form and in a few seconds he had once again both his limbs.

"Tch…to think that I was so careless…Looks like you aren't as weak as we thought…" He called out to him, this time making sure to not let him escape from his sight. At first, he thought that he could allow himself to fool around before starting to fight seriously. Yet, he was proved wrong.

Glancing again at each other, the air became filled with tension. From now on, the true fight would have begun.

"Bets are accepted…" Kalameet muttered before flexing his legs and shooting himself toward his opponent who did the same. Not even a second later, they both had reached the centre of the space where they were fighting, still the semi draconic teen didn't go for a direct hit and instead managed to circle around Hangyaku and position himself right behind him. His intention was to unleash an attack aimed to where he hit his opponent before, but the other teen didn't let his opponent act freely and before he could attack, he grabbed him by the collar crushing him on the ground and then sending him fly toward a rock before releasing a pulse of dark energy that hit directly his back. Feeling the pain of both the hit he received and the impact on the rock, Kalameet stood up and let the black scales on his arms advance further until they covered completely his arms.

"You are annoying me." He spoke while the bruise on his back was disappearing. The only reply he got, was a smirk and then another dark blast that he managed to stop by using the scales on his arm as a shield. However, the hit was directed to his face and by doing so, he was temporally blinded by his own limb and so leaving an opening for his opponent. Such prediction was confirmed when he felt an increase in the number of energy sources in front of him and when he lowered his limb, he saw the reason of such increase: the one he was facing had summoned countless sphere of dark energy that were now floating around him in spiral motion. But with just a gesture of his hand, all of them lined up on his left and right, creating a grid that was aimed at him.

'My usual luck.' He thought before all those spheres were fired all at the same time at him. Each one with the clear intent to kill him, but he wasn't going to die so easily: enduring a few of the bullets that were fired at him, he started to dodge or deflect the other ones. However, as soon as one of those bullets was fired, another one was generated, ready to be fired, creating an endless rain of attacks and he didn't know how long he would be able to last this way. The only way he could hope to escape from there was by searching for the right opening and to attack in the same instant he would found it.

Deflect, parry, dodge…deflect, parry, dodge…It took him around one minute and half of repeating these three actions before he finally saw what he needed: channelling as much of his black fire as possible in his right arm, with a quick motion, he sent a wave of fire toward his opponent. Cutting away all the spheres it touched and before he could realize it, that wave impacted diagonally on his torso, burning some of his clothes and his own skin and causing him to be pushed back.

This also served to finally stop the restless assault of the sphere his opponent was throwing at him. Finally…a stop.

'Now or never…' Kalameet thought before thrusting with his legs and launching himself forward. Aiming for the kill that would end that fight. He needed to put an end now or things would turn nasty.

In less than a second he reduced the distance from his target to some

mere centimetres, the right distance for him to deal a fatal blow. Retracting his left arm, even more black flames appeared on it, soon that limb was completely covered by them and looked more like a spear ready to pierce anything on its path.

Time slowed. He could see everything clearly: the figure of his opponent that didn't have enough time to react to his move, the spot that he was going to pierce and end his opponent. Yet, when he tried to look at his face, his eyes were shadowed by his hair but his lips were distorted into a wicked smile that was more than enough of a warning to Kalameet. He missed his chance.

"Shit." He muttered with a voice that fully expressed his annoyance and anger for his mistake.

He had already unleashed his attack with his fist coated with flames, but Hangyaku managed to block it with his open hand and despite some bruises caused from the fire, he managed to sustain perfectly the same amount of force that almost killed him just a moment ago. Then, out of blue an invisible wave pushed Kalameet back of a few feet while still standing up.

On the other hand, the fire dragon slayer managed to endure the hit but dropped his attention on the opponent to focus om the defence. This way, the other one could act freely in that small instant and he wasn't stupid enough to waste it: immediately dark energy cumulated in one of his palm at an abnormal rate and before anyone could see clearly what he was doing, he unleashed a wave of dark energy more powerful than his previous attacks. However, taking into consideration the resistance that Kalameet showed before, even this attack should be too much of a problem, yet, before the blow reached its target, it split itself into six and each of its parts aimed for a different part of the body.

The target of the attack managed to dodge the first two that were aimed to his right shoulder and to his belly. The next three however came at him together at the same time, making it much harder to dodge and so he succeeded only in parrying the first one, while the second was barely deflected, leaving a light cut on his right forearm and finally, the third one…it hit the target. This last bullet managed to pierced his left side, leaving behind a small hole to show its passage. Still, there were no traces of blood, only some small black particles here and there that soon disappeared.

Clenching his teeth, Kalameet pressed a hand on the hole that was the only true wound he received since the start of that fight, but it wouldn't be the last. As if it wasn't enough, he could feel the pain from that hit he just received and just as he predicted, it was the kind of hit that aimed only to cause even more pain. His opponent wasn't a fool and he knew that the most effective way to defeat him was by making him suffer: he may not be able to bleed and could regenerate, yet, pain was something he couldn't do anything against it, for now.

'One breath, two, three…' He kept counting inside his head, trying to return his breathing to a more normal state. He needed to be ready to fight and he couldn't afford for an opening…yet.

Two more breaths and finally, he was ready to resume the clash: he could still feel the pain and the part where he was hit was kind of numb, still, he couldn't give up, he wouldn't give up…he didn't want to give up. The prize was far too important to let it go.

Staring at his opponent, he was feeling pissed off by the smug grin on Hangyaku's face. Both of them were aware of what was happening and right now the one who had the upper hand wasn't the former pink haired teen, or salmon to be precise, like it was before. The reason behind this change was known by Kalameet and he tried to end the fight as quickly as possible to avoid this epilogue: if someone like the one who was possessing his brother was faced in a fight, then, after a certain amount of time in which they are weak and easy to corner, they would recover enough from the initial damage and then learn the way of fighting of their opponent and counter it. From just a few moves, they are able to completely see through the enemy's way of fighting, adding to this all their abilities and their inhuman resilience, no wonder why he used them so much.

"Not so much confident anymore are we?" He said in an attempt to provoke the other, he wanted that he attacked for first, this way, his tactic of counterattack would succeed and he would win the fight. Still, he decided to not accept his challenge and started to walk calmly while not letting him out of his sight. Similarly, the other did the same with the only difference that he didn't lose his grin. They reached a situation of stop once more: Kalameet couldn't attack because it would have been the same as committing a suicide; on the other hand, Hangyaku was in a similar predicament: if he was to attack, then, he would found himself unable to land a decisive blow or even cause enough direct damage to his opponent. Still, the dark grin on his face was alarming the other teen who knew that he had something in mind.

Both of them stopped, only, it wasn't the one who started to walk first that caused said stop. Immediately, Kalameet felt every fibre of his body tense while his eyes didn't lose sight of his opponent. However, it was only for a single moment, but, the figure in front of him vanished, before reappearing exactly where it was only a moment before, but when he tried to focus more his gaze, he noticed that that figure became kind of blurred. He didn't even need to reflect to understand his intention and twisted his body so that his hands touched the ground before letting his legs spin around while being ignited with his black fire, almost immediately he felt where his opponent was and decided to jump away from there.

Just after he escaped from where he was he heard the sound of a strong impact and when he looked back, he found the ground completely cracked and also saw the cause of such event: his opponent predicted that if he managed to fake an attack, he would react on instinct and try to reply back, allowing him to make use of his tactic of counterattack. Luckily, before he could be caught into his trap, he managed to use his reason to understand the other's plan and escape from it.

"What a shame, you managed to see through me even if I tried so hard." He talked with fake disappointment and managing in angering even further the other one. Still, he couldn't let his emotion take control of him, otherwise he would be…no, maybe this was the right choice. After all he couldn't win right now unless he did a gambit.

Everything became silent, the air itself stopped and even Hangyaku seemed perturbed by this change.

"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!"

A sudden roar that also sounded like a scream exploded from Kalameet shaking the air and causing a gust of wind that blew away some leaf and rocks around him. His eyes were now tinged with pure rage and hate while also not showing the slightest trace of reason or lucidity: it was like looking at a blood thirsty beast that whished only to bring death on everyone and to destroy anything in sight.

The reaction of Hangyaku on the other hand was at first of fear but when he grasped the situation the same smug grin resurfaced on his face, he had won the fight.

"Ahahah…Really, are you really that desperate?! Ahahah, if I at least had known that you were such an idiot I would have possessed you first, this way maybe the remaining one would have been a true challenge." He laughed with the conviction that he had won. Karafanto was a particular state in which someone like Kalameet would let his rage and hate overtake his body, while his mind would operate without being controlled by any kind of emotions as a different being that would give instruction to the body on what to do. It was their trump card that allowed to operate without any reservation while also not acting blindly, still, using it in this kind of situation could also prove to be dangerous and in this case it looked like an act of desperation more than anything else and it probably was. Kalameet failed to defeat his opponent before he could use his counterattack, this preventing him from causing him any direct damage and that was exactly his strong point and now he had active his … mode and considering his condition, it wouldn't last long.

'I better end this quickly…' He thought already while not wasting anymore time and making his body attack head on the opponent while coating his entire body with black flames, giving him the appereance of a black falling star. Moreover, that coat had a double function: to be a source of damage and to shield him from some of the enemy's attacks.

Dodging on his right, Hangyaku managed to avoid his opponent's assault, but some of his flames reached him and caused a pair of bruises, nothing dangerous, yet, it was because of this that he couldn't use his counterattack and even if he would have taken head on his opponent, Kalameet would have landed next to him. He wasn't trying to harm him with a direct hit, but using his fire to do it and to further increase the damage, he decided to use his trump card. A clever move, but that didn't mean that he would have won for sure. The game was now open again and despite the advantage of the dark mage, now both of them could win and he couldn't ask for better. He didn't wish to win a one sided battle, surely he wished to win and wouldn't be too stingy about the method to do it, yet not finding any opposition in his opponent would make that fight boring.

Another assault, this time even quicker than the previous one. But the dark mage noticed when it was too late that the true aim of this attack wasn't to indirectly damage him…but to attack him in one of his blind spot: the back. Too slow was his reaction and in no time he saw a beam of black fire advance at light speed toward him. He couldn't use his counterattack in time and instead braced himself for the impact that came a second later and sent him spinning back of a few meters. Expecting another attack, he prepared himself to counterattack. But to his surprise, he managed to land without another offensive from the other side, but just as he touched the firm earth, he saw what was going to happen next: his opponent probably thought that he would be surprised long enough to let his front exposed, allowing him to attack him head on. How wrong he was: it was true that he was surprised, but that didn't mean he was going to let himself so open to an attack. So, when he saw a flaming fist directed toward his face, he didn't waste such a chance and quickly grabbed that fist with his hand before using that momentum to move on the side before using his technique.

Immediately the opponent was blown away of a few meters but quickly landed on the ground and tried to recover, but when he saw that Hangyaku had decided to give him no time to breath, he found himself pretty much completely open when he unleashed a dark pulse at zero distance and that truly hurt. Still, after enduring the hit he managed to move himself on the side and to avoid another immediate attack: instead, he saw that his opponent hadn't moved from where he was and before he could react, he launched himself toward him. It wasn't an attack with a particular aim, he wanted to move him away from there and to block him on the ground. Once he succeeded, he then jumped back before sending him a wave of black fire that simply cut the ground where he was.

He had disappeared from where he was and now was on his side ready to return the favour of the previous attack with a sphere of dark energy that he barely managed to block. Once the attack hit the target, large amount of dust clouded Kalameet's figure, giving him some second of advantage in which he had a slight possibility of a surprise attack.

Taking advantage of his situation, he leaped toward him while focusing all his flames on his right arm and when he was close enough, he unleashed a full torrent of his black fire that he didn't even try to dodge. He kept that storm alive for three full second but when he dispelled it, he felt himself returning completely in possession of his body and so he knew that his time had run out.

'This will hurt…a lot.'

"Surprise."

Counterattack had been activated and he was blown away of a few meters and landed on the ground in the same point as when he had activated his Karafanto.

"It is truly a shame that in the end you couldn't turn the table, even if you took the decision to active it. You must feel frustrated don't you." He taunted while walking toward him without showing any sign of agitation and why should he? Right now, Kalameet was still on the ground, his body covered in bruises and he also had a pair of bad injures and he truly felt exhausted. It would have taken him at least one hour or so to be in correct shape to fight properly and at least five minutes to have his body fully recovered. Meaning that for five minutes his movements would have been slowed up to the point he would not be able to fight properly.

But…in truth, he didn't need to do that anymore.

"Eheh…well, I'm sorry to disappoint you like this, but actually I couldn't feel more satisfied…" He muttered with a smile before rolling away from where he was lying and it was then that his opponent understood what he meant and his eyes opened in realization. His first reaction was that to look around to make sure of what he thought, then he would have tried to escape from that zone and finally run away from there. Unfortunately for him, he couldn't do any of these things, because before he could do it, seven black chain shot out from the ground and wrapped around him, preventing him from doing any kind of movements. Then once all the chains had blocked him, Kalameet finally stood up and walked toward him, all the damage he had received where slowly disappearing from his body and despite his struggling, Hangyaku couldn't possibly free himself from that cage.

"So, you resolved yourself to do this." He said, now he had understood his plan: ever since he decided to use his trump card, his true aim wasn't to damage him indirectly, nor to break his counterattack by using brute force, no ever since that moment he wanted to resolve the fight this way. Before, when he still had his Karafanto active, he managed to land six blow and considering the shockwave he released by activing it, the count reached seven: for seven times he performed seven attack all aimed to the ground just to plant those chains and use all at the same time to block him, something that wasn't in his style, yet effective.

"So, no words of hate or anger. Aren't you going to insult me or say something like 'this isn't over'…" Now it was his turn to taunt his opponent, but he wasn't going to lose too much time, he couldn't.

"For what, I have lost, that's a matter of fact, there won't be a 'next time' now I'm going to simply disappear. At least do this quickly."

"At least someone with some brain…then goodbye." He told him before piercing his chest and reaching his heart then with a swift move he destroyed it. Soon after it, the eyes of what had been his opponent until now became like glass and his head hung down as if he was dead. His body stopped moving and Kalameet removed his hands from the other's chest, surprisingly it wasn't covered in blood and once he wasn't in contact with that dead looking body, the hole he created started to close. Not even a minute after this and the hole was gone as if it never existed and now it was time for Kalameet to do what he had come there for. Placing his hand on the other's chest, he closed his eyes and focused on that single point, with his previous action, he destroyed the enemy's core, leaving that body in a state that was no different from that of a dead corpse, with the only exception that it wasn't stable and could collapse on himself any moment. So what he had to do, was to prevent it from collapsing and at the same time awakening the true owner of that body.

'Time to wake him up.' He thought while closing his eyes: he then found himself inside an empty black space with fragments of every shape and dimension all around him. Still, what made all those fragments particular were the images that were imprinted on them: some were images of landscapes of various kind, other were items of all sorts, people all different from each other and finally memories. All those fragments represented who the true owner of that body was: his brother, Eclipt and he was there to make him come back, but it was easier said than done. To accomplish such mission, he needed to reconnect all those fragments together and reform the other's soul. However, if he acted so, who knows how much time he would have wasted to do the job. No, what he needed to do was find at least seven key fragments and link all of them, from there on, the soul would have been able to restore itself without any other help, yet, this would have taken some time, but without him there his brother would have been able to deform time up to the point that when he would come back to his senses, they should both be fine and awake.

'Ok, two of the fragments shouldn't be hard to locate, as for the other five…there should be only two more that I don't know where to look to find them.' He thought while looking around himself and saw the first two: they were fragments regarding two different things: the first one was about his power that came from the eclipse; the second one was about the weapon he used: a pair of twin short sword attached with a thin string generated from his own power.

Now, he needed to locate five more and despite the fact that he had almost no clues about two of them, the other three weren't easy to find either. He linked together the two he had found and a thin translucent string formed between the two, then he started to float away from there, searching for the other fragments. However, as he thought, it wasn't easy. Everywhere he looked he saw the same things: the black void that was that place right now and the fragments that formed his brother's soul, each the same as the other on the surface but in the end none was the same when it came to their contents. Happiness, fear, hate, despair, love, guilt and many other emotions were there, each embed in his soul in different forms, be it as image of items or memories, each was precious in its own way and together they formed who Eclipt was.

Minutes, hours…he had long lost track of how much time he spent there but it wouldn't really matter, once out from that place it would have been as if he had left his body for just a pair of seconds as for him, he had time in abundance.

'One found, four to go.' He thought when he finally found one of the fragments he was looking for, this time it was a memory, one he knew very well: it was when he and his other knew brothers came to knew each other for the first time. At first they didn't exactly come along with each other, nor they wished to kill the other two, it was just that none of them was the kind of person to become friend with everyone they met. With a smile filled with nostalgia, he linked that piece with the other two. He then took a good look around there, knowing that normally if one of the required fragments is a memory then, there will probably be another one around there and he wasn't proved wrong: there, he saw the fourth fragment. This time it was a memory of before he undergoes that, he knew who he was and what he had to go through and so did his other two brothers with him, yet he chooses not to look at it and linked it to the others. It probably was a bad memory connected to why he became who he was now if his instinct was right it could be defined as one of the worst things that ever happened to him.

It took him some more time before he finally spotted the fifth one but it wasn't as hard as finding the previous two. This time he remained kind of surprised of what he found: it was an item or to be more precise, some items, his library. Back to their home, Eclipt was the third or fourth one of their group with the largest library and for good reasons. As for him, he didn't hate to read and new its importance, but he preferred to do other things. Rolling his eyes, he decided to keep going and search for the remaining two: which, he was sure would have been much more difficult to track down than any other. For the first five, he could somehow image what the fragments would have been, he had known his brother for more than a millennium and so he knew somehow what was important to him. Still, from what they were told, the last two fragments were the most unpredictable, because they could literally be anything, they were more of a secure measure to prevent anyone undesired to mess with their souls but this also meant that when it came to this kind of situation, finding them would have been difficult for them too.

Still, complaining wouldn't bring him any good, so he started once again to search for the last two fragments.

…

Nothing, nothing and again nothing. He had looked everywhere and even so, it wasn't enough, because their soul, especially when in this kind of status tended to change continuously, making practically impossible for anyone to orientate. Only them were able to have a slight sense of orientation thanks to their connection to the black energy that was literally what formed both their body and mind, thus, they could also read it and understand more or less where to go and what was what. Still this method didn't give any real certainty and considering the fact that Kalameet had spent who knows how much of his time there 'only' looking for his brother soul's fragments, he was starting to be a little annoyed.

'Next time I have to do something of this kind, I'd better ask to someone else to do it in my place.' He grumbled in his mind, but right at that moment, he felt it. It was just for an instant, but it was also enough to allow him to locate one of the last two fragments. Turning his head into the direction he felt it, he started immediately to search for it with his gaze: his eyes moving frenetically from one fragment to another and finally, he saw it.

In less than a second he was there, facing one of the last two pieces that were missing from the puzzle. In all honesty, he was curious about what that fragment could be but when he looked into it, a small smile crept on his face. That fragment was a memory and on top of that, one of those that were among the best that he had the pleasure to share with his brothers: they had just arrived in the same reality they currently were, each of them having no idea about what would have happened in the future, but it was exactly because of that reason that they could share such a good memory, but unfortunately as said before a memory normally means that the next fragment is another memory as well and connected with the previous one and this case wasn't different. There next to him, he could see the last fragment, the other memory that could be considered as complementary to the one he had just seen: the first one was about the first night they spent in this reality while the second one could be said as the catalyst that caused all the troubles they were facing now. One the opposite of the other, ironic but at the same time logic, painfully logic. With a last sigh, Kalameet let the small light of happiness that had appeared in his eyes die and replaced it with a cold gaze that didn't express any true emotion and it was with this expression that he linked the last two fragments. After that he closed his eyes and let his consciousness fade, but it was just for a second because he opened again his eyes and found himself again in the real world with his hand placed on Eclipt's chest. Slowly, he then put down his body and then stretched his own. It may have been only a pair of seconds in that reality, but to him it felt like it had been much more and normally he preferred to trust his own sense of time.

"Took, you long enough." That familiar voice, cold and contained at the same time. It's been too long since he last heard it, truly too long, but right now it was there once more.

He allowed himself to smile at that situation before turning around and only to find his own brother sitting on his legs with his dark purple eyes staring at him as if to complain with him.

"Glad that you finally chose to wake up."

 **Karafanto: kara (Greek:** **karankiozopaíchtis=puppeteer) +fanto (Italian: fantoccio=puppet)**

 **Hangyaku: Japanese= betrayal**

 **Well hope that you appreciated this small glossary, not that it was hard to create, it was harder to search or create for the words I used so what can I say…a yes, I hate my life, hope that you had spent well your summer holiday, mine were almost the worst I've ever had and see you next time.**


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